In Pavlodar a presentation of the "July 25" CD dedicated to the great Isaak Dunayevskiy and Vladimir Vysotskiy took place. Naum Grigorievich Shafer compiled the CD and made a presentation of it. He united two very different but immensely talented people.

In real art there are no boundaries between big and small genres. A talented three-minute song can reflect the same intensity of emotions as a symphony.

It does not make sense to divide art in "high" and "low" genres. As Evgeniy Evtushenko said, "Big talent always disturbs." The verb "disturbs" in this case has amazingly many meanings. On the one hand, talent disturbs people’s souls inspiring them to noble actions. On the other hand, it disturbs coward rulers who are afraid of the art impact on public opinion. Usually they try to get rid of such talents.

Those who think that Issak Dunayevskiy was a favorite composer of the authorities are wrong. When he died suddenly only two newspapers were allowed to publish his necrology - "Literaturnaya" and "Soviet Art". Other official publications including "Pravda" and "Izvestiya" placed only a small ordinary funeral announcement. It was the same situation when Vladimir Semenovich Vysotskiy died - all media was silent. At that time Soviet newspapers were full of articles about the death of Joe Dassin.

After the XX Communist Party Congress the authorities thought better of it and declared July 25 the memorial day of Dunayevskiy. Radio and television were broadcasting special programs on this mourning day almost for a quarter of a century. Everything changed after 1980. The society was so devastated with the sudden death of the great bard that July 25 became the Memorial Day of only Vladimir Vysotskiy.

From a formalistic point of view, Dunayevskiy was one of "praisers", while Vysotskiy was one of "subverters". But why they were both loved by the public and disliked by the authorities? The answer is in the same phrase, "Big talent always disturbs." These poets were too talented and self-original to fit into the dogmas of the state system.

Sometimes in Dunayevskiy’s songs, the words were lying but the music never did! It survived because of its nobleness. Mikhail Bulgakov loved and highly evaluated it. Fedor Chaliapin waned to sing "My country is wide" saying that the perfect melody should be out of politics. Was Dunayevskiy "praising" the Soviet Power? Of course, he was. But he praised not the totalitarian regime but the romantic belief in a kind and imaginary country where people were always young, healthy, and happy.

Was Vysotskiy a "subverter"? Of course, he was. But he subverted not the country but the truncheon nomenclature that undermined the prestige of the great state and turned it into a heartless bureaucratic machine.

A poet is always in opposition to the political and spiritual oppression. Isaak Dunayevskiy and Vladimir Vysotskiy were both this way. They passed away on the same day with a quarter of a century difference in time.

Naum Grigoryevich united two very different talents. We were listening to the romantic music of Dunayevskiy gracefully turning to rebel, lyric, and humorous songs of Vysotskiy, song after song until funeral adagio "Raft" followed by the parting song "My fastidious horses".

Irina Tveritneva